Cut Them Free

Seniors, once you start narrowing down your college choices it is important to cut your other schools free. As you begin identifying which college or the few colleges that are still in the running, it is important for you to notify the other colleges that you do NOT intend to attend their school beginning next year. 

Please be sure to wait to notify the schools that you will not be attending until you are completely sure that you are no longer considering them. However, I realize that many of you have narrowed your choice to a smaller group of colleges and you have completely eliminated others from consideration. Those which have been completely eliminated are the colleges I am recommending you notify now. 

This is important because it allows the college to plan for their upcoming student body and to know if they have room to accept other students off of their wait-lists. Think about your classmates who might be on the waiting list for a school and they want to hear back from the schools as quickly as possible and there are other students across the country in the same situation. Colleges can't begin opening up additional slots until they know which students will or will not be attending. 

Additionally, if you received scholarship offers from one of the colleges that you have eliminated from the running, this can also potentially allow the college to offer that money out to other students which, again, can help people such as your fellow classmates. Believe me, the colleges will not be angry with you for deciding that you will not be attending their school - they understand that this is part of the process, so just go ahead and take a few minutes to let them know of your intent to attend a different college.

Local Scholarships

Seniors, now is the time to be working on submitting your applications for local scholarships!

Local scholarships are great because you are only competing against other WKHS students (for many) and, at most, against other students from Worthington or the Central Ohio area. These scholarships are all among the scholarships we have listed on the WKHS Counselor website and I strongly encourage you to take the time to check them out. To find the scholarship listings on the Counselor website - you can use the logo on the right side of the page or hover over the College/ Career tab and Scholarship Search will appear in the drop-down menu.

Many of the local scholarships have due dates that are just before or after spring break, but there are some with earlier or later deadlines so it is important to pay attention to those details so that you don't miss out on the opportunities. As you read through the scholarships available, look carefully to determine which ones you might be a good candidate for and therefore want to apply to try to receive. Please remember that time flies and many of the scholarships have requirements such as essays or recommendation letters so it is important not to procrastinate and to get your applications completed on time.

ASVAB

Yesterday I talked about 2 career exploration opportunities, but what if you don't know what fields you want to consider as possible jobs?

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is a test that serves as a qualifying exam for students interested in a military career and is also a helpful career based assessment to help students identify personal strengths and areas of interest for the future.  Information about the ASVAB is available at: https://www.asvabprogram.com/.

While many people know the ASVAB is a test used for military enlistment and classification, the ASVAB Career Exploration Program (CEP) is much more than a military test. The ASVAB CEP can be taken by all students in 10th grade and above, regardless of their future career plans. Students can have no intention of entering the military and still take the ASVAB as a career exploration tool!

The ASVAB will be administered to interested students on Friday, March 27th at WKHS.  If you are interested in signing up to take the ASVAB, please complete the interest form or see your school counselor.

On a totally separate note, good luck to the Girls Basketball team who will be competing tomorrow night in the Regional Semifinals game! This is their second year in a row to win and become District Champions! We are proud of you and wish you lots of luck in your game tomorrow night!

Career Exploration Opportunities

 

One of the exciting parts of high school is the chance for students to explore different career fields that could be possible for their future. There are 2 unique opportunities coming up that might be of interest to students.

First is the Performance Columbus Automotive Maintenance Pre-Apprenticeship Program. This is a year-long pre-apprenticeship program that is open for juniors and seniors. There are two opportunities for interested students and parents to attend an open house to learn more about the program. The open houses will take place on Tuesday, March 3rd and Thursday, March 19th at 5:30pm. Students and parents should try to attend together on whichever date works best for your schedules. The open house will highlight program expectations, scheduling and next steps. Here is a link to a flyer with more information.

Next is the Healthcare Career Summit Field Trip. The field trip will take place on April 30th, but the deadline to register is this Friday, March 6th. This field trip will allow students to learn more about healthcare careers including registered nurse, medical assistant, radiologic technologist, surgical technologist, medical laboratory technician, and respiratory therapist. Check out this handout for more information. We can only take 50 students so if you are interested, please be sure to complete both steps required to sign up right away.

If you're interested in either of these career fields, please be sure to take advantage of these opportunities!

Tomorrow

There are lots of exciting happenings tomorrow related to WKHS students.

First, we are going to be on a 2A/2B bell schedule to enable all students to see a teaser of the Black History Month celebration.

Here is the bell schedule:

• 1st: 8:40-9:20
• 2nd: 9:25-10:50 (class and assembly)
• 3rd: 10:55-11:35
• 4th: 11:40-12:20
• 5th: 12:25- 1:05
• 6th: 1:10- 1:50
• 7th: 1:55-2:35
• 8th: 2:40 - 3:20

Then, tomorrow evening at 7pm, everyone is invited to the WKHS Auditorium to see the whole Black History Month celebration presentation. It is a free event and open to all students, parents, and community members who are interested. The students have been working really hard to make this a special evening and it should be fun!

And, as if that wasn't enough, tomorrow members of our girls swim team have qualified for the Swimming State Championships and will be competing in Canton, Ohio! Good luck to (in alphabetical order): Grace Baker, Keira Fidler, Caity Fuller, Abi Goodrich, and Madelyn Richner. We are so proud of you and will be cheering you on from afar. Go Wolves!

Scholarships

College is expensive! It is an investment in your future and finding financial options to help make it realistic to be able to afford to attend such as with additional scholarships is important. I know it can be a time consuming process, but it is worth it.

Most scholarship money does end up coming directly from your colleges, but there are so many other places to look for scholarships and you should consider all of the options to try to help make your college experience even a little more affordable! For example, do your parent's employers (or if you work, your employer) offer scholarships for dependent children? What about your place of worship? If you volunteer for an organization, do they offer scholarships for their student volunteers? There are also countless scholarship search websites where you can complete personalized searches for other qualities and characteristics that would be ideal for you. If you want to see some of these sites, please check out financial aid section (under colleges) on the WKHS Counselors website.

Staying Organized

I admit it... I am a list maker. I have lists for just about everything you could imagine. I created a list of things I *MUST* accomplish before the end of the day, not to mention the list I already have at school of the "other" things I need to do. I also have a list of things to do at home, a list of "to do's" for next week, lists for other upcoming school related projects, a list of summer projects (yes, already) and even a list for "when I have time." So, sadly, I guess I could probably benefit from having a list of all of my lists. :-)

The reason I am mentioning it, is that lists work for me, but everyone needs some sort of a system to help keep your thoughts or your massive "to do piles" organized. It is much more difficult and demanding to try to hold something in your head than it is to refer back to it on paper. I heard once that your head is a good place to have and process ideas not to hold ideas and I believe that makes sense. It doesn't require a lot of time, but the payoffs are large as long as you stick with it. Personally, I love being able to cross something off my list knowing that I had achieved a goal - no matter how small.

Please work on staying focused and organized. What do you need to do to make sure that you will be able to end this quarter successfully? Remember, you only have 8 more days of classes this quarter. If lists are not your way to stay organized, that is OK, but find a system that works and use it.